


True Love's Kiss

by CassieWritesDestiel



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: 2x10, A bit angst for Gwen, But else it's fluffy, Canon Universe, Feelings, Fluff, I'm sorry Gwen, Love Potion/Spell, Merthur - Freeform, Multi, Spells & Enchantments, True Love, True Love's Kiss, alternative ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-12 01:11:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15328446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CassieWritesDestiel/pseuds/CassieWritesDestiel
Summary: Arthur is enchanted to love Lady Vivian and only a true love's kiss can break the spell, but it doesn't quite go as everyone expected.Alternative Ending to the Gwen/Arthur kissing scene in 2x10 because I needed a Merthur solution.





	True Love's Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Merlin fanwork, as I'm still watching my way through it and am only in S2.

“Then let me make amends!” Gwen said and walked forward, pulled Arthur towards her and placed a kiss on his lips. It was more than she would’ve ever dreamed of, and the butterflies in her stomach were more alive than ever as Arthur relaxed into her and kissed back. As they parted however, the prince looked rather confused and irritated at the presence of the woman in front of him. 

“Gwen?” he asked, frowning as if trying to make sense of something he didn’t understand. “What are you doing here?” Gwen didn’t answer, instead she forced a smile to cover up her devastation about the unexpected reaction, and she couldn’t think of an excuse as to why she was here.  Arthur touched his lips with his fingers, still confused, and now his face turned into what looked like he was slightly disgusted, an expression pretty close to his confusion. “Did you…?” he started, unsure if what he thought happened really did. “Did you kiss me?” 

Gwen’s heart fell as she watched Arthur, the butterflies in her stomach slowly dying and raining down from their sky, coming to an early rest at the bottom of her stomach. It didn’t work. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes again, threatening to fall and roll down her cheeks because  _ it didn’t work.  _ Merlin said only a true love’s kiss was able to break the enchantment, and Merlin had thought it was her, why else would he come to her, and she was so sure that maybe she was who Arthur truly loved, she meant to know it deep down but her heart had betrayed her again. 

Arthur had some feelings for her, she knew that, but apparently it wasn’t enough to break the spell that won over Arthur’s heart. Gwen turned away as he drifted back into the enchantment’s trance, a trance she could only temporarily lift, she couldn’t bear to see it. “Yes, Sire, I did,” she answered as she exited the tent. 

Merlin awaited her outside with a grin on his face but Gwen couldn’t smile back. “It didn’t work,” she told him, or maybe her expression already did before the words, but it were the words that washed the smile from Merlin’s lips. 

“No,” he whispered, surprise and horror evident in his eyes. He had been so certain about this, so sure that Gwen was Arthur’s true love, the way he looked at her and the way he treated her with respect rather like a friend than a servant gave his feelings for her away. 

“Merlin, did you see that?” Arthur asked as his manservant entered the tent.  

“No, what?” he bluntly asked, smiling up at Arthur, because as serious as the situation might be, the prince’s expression was just hilarious. 

“Gwen, she… she kissed me. She knows that my heart belongs to Lady Vivian, doesn’t she?” There was a full display of emotions on Arthur’s features, from confusion over worry about Lady Vivian finding out what happened to anger that Gwen simply dared to kiss him, he was the crown prince after all and she was just a servant. 

“I’m sure she does,” Merlin assured him half-heartedly, trying to think of a solution to this still very serious problem. 

“But she kissed me! Was she trying to insult my love?” He was still trying to make sense out of this situation, but the spell caused his mind to only spin around Lady Vivian. 

“I don’t think that was her intention,” Merlin carefully answered, hoping Gwen wouldn’t end up at the stocks or worse for this. 

“Then why did she do that?” Arthur looked up, his eyes now focused on Merlin, and there was something that made the warlock hope, a little glimmer in his eyes that wasn’t succumbed by the magic anymore, a small spark resembling the true Arthur, who was hiding behind this mask the love spell had created, a mask which suppressed his true self. 

“I don’t know,” Merlin lied and slightly shook his head. Was he seeing things or did Gwen manage to slip past the enchantment’s defences but wasn’t able to break it? 

“What are you staring at me like that for?” Arthur asked, irritated. “Fetch me my armour, will you?” He demanded, eager to get ready for the third part of the fight. Merlin followed his orders, still wondering why the kiss hadn’t worked. He helped Arthur into his armour, not even needing to focus on the task to make sure his fingers found the right places to tighten the armour and make sure it was secure on Arthur’s body, as he had done this hundreds of times before.  

Merlin was standing in front of Arthur as he finished, a bit closer to him than necessary and definitely closer than he should be once he was done applying the armour to his body. Their eyes met and neither of them said a word. Following an unknown, sudden feeling, an urge that felt strangely familiar, Merlin leaned forward, closed the distance between them and softly kissed his lips. He immediately retreated, turning the kiss more into a quick peck for fear that this was wrong, but Arthur hold him back and reunited their lips, which Merlin would’ve never expected. 

The young warlock’s feelings were a storm inside of him, a fight of the blowing winds of confusion and happiness, the rain and thunder of fear and flashes of arousal that came more frequently as the kiss lasted. Was he really Arthur’s true love? But how could that be? Arthur had always been more hostile towards him, making jokes about him and telling him what an idiot he was at least twice a day. Merlin knew Arthur didn’t mean to hurt him, not really, and that he was still rather fond of his manservant, only Merlin would’ve never mistaken this for love, he never thought Arthur could like him in this way, and it puzzled him now that he did. 

“Are you alright?” Arthur asked as they broke the kiss for air, wiping away the tear that had been rolling down Merlin’s cheek without the warlock even noticing. 

“It’s me?” Merlin asked, trying to realize the immense truth behind this. “I’m your true love?” 

“It’s been you all along,” Arthur confessed. “Don’t think about it too hard, I don’t want your pretty head to explode,” the prince cracked a joke at Merlin’s confused expression. 

  
  



End file.
